June 28, 2017 – 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. MT

Integrated Design Lab - Classroom

306 S. 6th Street Boise, ID 83702

*FREE LUNCH provided to in-person attendees registered 24 hours in advance
In-Person attendees will receive a raffle ticket for each session attended for a prize drawing in August

Description:

The Idaho Power Company funded the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) to produce a series of climate design resources to help assist in the conceptual and early design of passive strategies. Through their support, the UI-IDL has developed two generations of spreadsheet calculators that are capable of analyzing building loads and energy consumption impacts of passive design strategies in locations throughout Idaho. Currently, there are seven different advanced design considerations supported by this calculation spreadsheet:

Heat Gain Calculations

Cross Ventilation

Stack Ventilation

Night Ventilation with Thermal Mass

Balance Point Calculation

Passive Solar

Earth Tube

These tools have been combined into a single spreadsheet that calculates the thermal energy savings associated with each of these strategies. The step-by-step input process directs the user to define the critical baseline and performance parameters of a building. These factors are linked to pre-defined equations within the spreadsheet that automatically provide the peak cooling loads, cooling capacities, and describe other critical design criteria. Wind roses, stacked charts, line graphs, and other forms of graphic information automatically populate the workspace to provide rich visual feedback to the user. The spreadsheets also contain a reference tab that consolidates a myriad of textbook, code, and other sources needed to complete the step-by-step instructions. Additionally, a variety of weather data, including hourly information from TMY weather files, are embedded into the calculations based upon cities throughout the Idaho. Once each tab is filled out, the results pages of the spreadsheets contains all of the important outputs needed to evaluate how much the passive design measures can contribute to the peak loads or energy savings of the building. Changes to the building parameters are reflected instantaneously to the user, making the Climate Tools Package an ideal instrument to explore different design iterations and how they might facilitate passive design strategies.

Bio:

Damon Woods:

Damon Woods is a PhD student at the University of Idaho. He is studying Mechanical Engineering with a focus on increasing the energy efficiency of buildings by using modeling and predictive control of radiant systems. Damon received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University in 2006 with minors in Aerospace and English Literature. He graduated with a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Boise State University in 2013, and is now working as a research support staff at U of I's Integrated Design lab while pursuing his doctorate.